Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez seeks close ties with Indian film industry

New Delhi: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met a delegation of the Producers Guild of India (PGI) during his two-day official visit to India last week in which he expressed his government's keen interest in strengthening ties with the Indian film industry.

The delegation of the guild comprised Shibasish Sarkar, president of PGI and Group CEO of Reliance Entertainment, Aashish Singh (Red Chillies Entertainment), Ankur Garg of Luv Films, Shiv Chanana (T-Series), Nitin Tej Ahuja, CEO of PGI, and Akshaye Widhani of Yash Raj Films.

The meeting, which took place in Mumbai on October 29, was also attended by First Lady of Spain Begona Gomez, Minister for Industry and Tourism Jordi Hereu Boher, and Minister for Transportation and Sustainable Mobility Oscar Puente as well as Dinesh Patnaik, Indian Ambassador to Spain.

Sanchez said the meeting marks "the beginning of a process of closer collaboration between the two filmmaking communities", according to a press release issued by the guild.

Sarkar shared insights into the "scale and multilingual nature" of the Indian film industry, as well as the factors influencing Indian producers' choices when selecting international locations for film shoots, it stated.